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IN RE: THOMAS BENNETT, Protestor. Thomas Bennett, a member of Local Union 200, filed a pre-election protest pursuant to Article XIII, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 2005-2006 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election (“Rules”). He alleged that local union business agent Chris Hooser violated the Rules when he asked shop steward Werner Holzwarth to remove a campaign button at the start of a labor-management meeting at Roundy’s. Election Supervisor representative Joe Childers investigated this protest. Findings of Fact Representatives of labor and management met at Roundy’s, a food distributor under Local Union 200’s jurisdiction, on January 26, 2006 to address workplace standards. Present for the union were Hooser, Holzwarth, and Tiffany Owens, an IBT engineer. Management was represented by Colby Krouse, Robbie Johnson, Jamie MacGrey, and Larry Stumps. Also present were representatives of Roundy’s consultant, Personnel Resource Management. When Hooser arrived, he saw that Holzwarth was wearing a campaign button supporting Teamsters4Teamsters, a slate in the delegate and alternate delegate election. Hooser immediately asked Holzwarth to take the button off, stating that wearing it in that meeting violated the Rules. Holzwarth complied. This protest followed. In support of the protest, Holzwarth and protestor Bennett stated that members employed at Roundy’s routinely wear buttons supporting the two slates competing in the delegate and alternate delegate election and that no one has asked them to remove them. Based on this history, they assert a pre-existing right to wear campaign buttons in the workplace. However, Holzwarth and Bennett provided no history that campaign buttons have been worn in labor-management meetings. Hooser confirmed that he asked Holzwarth to remove the campaign button and explained that he did so because it does not “look good for management to see the union ‘divided.’” He told our investigator that he made the same request at a grievance meeting held February 2. As support for his position that wearing campaign buttons during meetings with management violates the Rules, Hooser relied on an advisory issued by then IBT general counsel Patrick Szymanski that states in part the following:
Analysis The propriety of wearing campaign buttons in meetings with management was decided in Stockton, 2001 EAD 292 (March 31, 2001), viz.
The first cited advisory provided the following rationale for this rule. Thus,
The addendum to this advisory extended the prohibition to “any member who represents the union in dealings with third parties. Therefore any member, including a part-time union employee or a steward, who represents the union should not wear campaign emblems while engaging in any activity described above.” The precedent provided by Stockton has made it unnecessary to reissue the cited advisories in this election cycle. We find that, had Holzwarth not removed his campaign button before the labor-management meeting on January 26, he would have violated the Rules. We further find that Hooser averted that Rules violation by requesting Holzwarth to remove the button, and that his request at the February 2 grievance meeting prevented a separate, similar violation. Accordingly, we DENY the protest. Any interested party not satisfied with this determination may request a hearing before the Election Appeals Master within two (2) working days of receipt of this decision. The parties are reminded that, absent extraordinary circumstances, no party may rely upon evidence that was not presented to the Office of the Election Supervisor in any such appeal. Requests for a hearing shall be made in writing, shall specify the basis for the appeal and shall be served upon: Kenneth Conboy Copies of the request for hearing must be served upon the parties, as well as upon the Election Supervisor for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 1725 K Street, N.W., Suite 1400, Washington, D.C. 20007-5135, all within the time prescribed above. A copy of the protest must accompany the request for hearing. Richard W. Mark cc: Kenneth Conboy DISTRIBUTION LIST (BY EMAIL UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED): Bradley T. Raymond, General Counsel Sarah Riger, Staff Attorney David J. Hoffa, Esq. Barbara Harvey Ken Paff Judith Brown Chomsky Stephen Ostrach Thomas Bennett Chris Hooser Werner O. Holzwarth, Jr. Tim Buban, Secretary-Treasurer Joe F. Childers William Broberg Jeffrey Ellison
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